The state is supposed to protect and return this property. But until the rightful owner comes forward and makes a claim, the state government can extract interest on your money to support the state budget.
Think you owe money in Florida? How to find unclaimed property?
Money may be waiting for you in Florida’s Unclaimed Property Program. Florida returned $92 million to residents in March.
Money is real. The people you owe money to are real. What’s really crazy is that no one has shed a bright light on this problem and leveraged artificial intelligence to solve it.
It sounds like a scammer’s email, but it’s true. State governments across the country hold about $100 billion, and some of it may belong to you or someone you know.
This unclaimed money, or “unclaimed wealth” in government parlance, is not in the form of handouts, subsidies, or taxpayer support. It’s personal money from forgotten bank accounts, unreturned deposits, unused gift cards, and other assets that are often left unattended.
The state did not earn this money. They are just supposed to protect it and return it.
However, over time, the state has become more than just an administrator. Until the rightful owner comes forward and makes a claim, state governments often end up using the interest taken from the funds to cover various costs.
Countries are not doing enough to return unclaimed funds
The state can honestly say that it is trying to return unclaimed money. People can be shown on TV holding oversized checks and showing their gratitude. But these stories obscure a larger truth. Most of the money remains unreturned.
The amount is large. for example, new york has accumulated about $20 billion. California It has about $15 billion. texas It has about $10 billion.
A few years ago I found $250 waiting for me virginia‘s unclaimed property website. Then I started checking on friends and family. My wife had money. Other relatives also had money. My friend had money.
Then I found my cousin Jonathan’s property. colorado. The amount was only advertised as “over $250.”
It was over $250. Nearly $30,000 in old tax refunds.
It taught me something important. It’s great to find money for yourself. Finding money for others feels even better. Trust me. Tell your cousin you’re waiting for $30,000 and earn a lifetime of Family Brownie Points.
That’s the chance of a virus lurking in this problem. Look for yourself. Then search for your spouse, sibling, friend, church, or former employer. And when you find the money, talk about it. Please post facebook, Instagram and linkedin. Bring it up at Thanksgiving.
It’s not to brag. To inspire others to see.
Spread the wealth for you and your friends
Once you start looking into it, you’ll see that my cousin’s story is not unique. In New Jersey, philip britton Found $40,000 for the Diocese of Camden. In North Carolina, pam hathaway She found $2,345 waiting for her in Kentucky.
These are not lottery windfalls. They are about system failures. Usually, getting it back requires the owner to know where to look, provide proof of identity, and navigate a hellish path of bureaucracy.
That’s backwards.
If the government can automatically keep funds, it should make serious efforts to automatically return them.
Design failures can be fixed. That’s why I started UnclaimedMoneyGuy.com. The first step was to create a consumer guide to help people understand, search for, and claim unclaimed money and make sense of a confusing system. A website is just the first step.
Unclaimed property is not an unsolvable problem
Solving this problem requires better data, better matching, better consumer education, better media attention, better state transparency, better federal standards, and better private sector tools.
And yes, we need AI. This is a system that checks the state database, compares names and addresses, flags likely matches, and continues to check as new records appear.
If you build a platform like this right, it has the potential to become a billion-dollar company.
Laws are also important. In April, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) began demanding answers about the state’s unclaimed property practices. A reform bill is proposed in parliament.
It’s a good start, but the bigger mission can’t wait for Washington or AI. It starts with people looking for themselves and then the people they care about.
If banks were to disrupt the collections process so much and still hold $100 billion that belonged to their customers, regulators would kick down their doors. Still, this money is scattered all over the place, 50 state systemsthis has never been the national issue it deserves to be.
Because every story increases the likelihood of your next search.
That money belongs to the American people. It should be returned to the American people.
And the only really crazy plan is to act as if the current system is good enough.
Mark Lewin is a former staff writer for the Money section of Business Week and USA TODAY. unclaimedmoneyguy.com.
